To think, with hindsight, showing The Neverending Story to a class of 6 year olds was a terrible idea?!

[AngeloMysterioso]

I was one of the 6 year olds in question.

The year was 1991. My teacher in primary school (infants year 1) put it on for us one day.

That shit gave me nightmares for I don’t even know how long. I worried the wolf was going to emerge from any given dark nook or cranny and try to kill me. I worried that the random statues that dotted the town where I lived were going to shoot lasers at me out of their terrifying stone eyes.

And of course, Artax… don’t even get me started on poor bloody Artax.

I haven’t watched it in a really long time so I’m sure the special effects and puppetry would look hilarious these days but still… AIBU to wonder what the fuck my teacher was thinking?!

Same thing happened at my primary school - an end of term 'treat'. Half the school dissolved into tears at the horse death, and the teachers quickly turned it off and got out the coloring in sheets. It was years before I found out that Artex (as I called him) returned alive. Traumatised!

We were shown part of Schindler’s List in Year 5/6.

I remember we had to have permission slips signed beforehand and my mum hadn’t signed mine but I had to watch anyway.

A U certificate film about bunnies at the time.

Irrelevant to the thread really, but as an aside, TNS is an example of really advanced animal training. Two horses played Artax, and they were trained to stand on a platform which was lowered into water, without trying to move off it or swim. Bloody difficult to get horses to do.

My kids are teens/pre-teens now, and I still haven’t shown it to them! The wolf is terrifying and Artax’s death is devastating, but the bit I could never watch as a child is the sphinxes shooting lasers from their eyes. That bit was unbearably scary.

What?! I never knew that. I was one of the bawling kids who stopped watching at this point and it seems no adult thought to tell me that bit.

Artex and Watership Down traumatised me for years!

I'd say reading the Greek myths, including the slightly gruesome ones, at age 7/8 isn't specific to "modern schools": it's something that's happened forever.

My kids did Greek myths in year 5. I did them in year 6. I think 9/10 is a more appropriate age than 7/8 personally.

It was The Box of Delights that gave me nightmares as a child - the wolves on the train. Watched it at home though rather than school. At school we read a very horrible book about nuclear war in Yr 6 called Children of the Dust I think. That was really horrific and terrified me for ages.

I'm 52 and still not over the horse in the swamp of sadness.
Watership down terrifies me.
And don't get me started on Hartley Hare.....

My DM had the vinyl (yes I’m that old) version of Peter & the Wolf and I don’t know if she was asked, or volunteered it, but for some reason we listened to it in our infants class in the 70’s. I must have been about 6ish?

I’m not sure which age group it’s aimed at really but it’s always stuck with me and the sound of the wolf (can’t remember which musical instrument plays the wolf) 🐺 gives me shudders to this day. 🤣

Remember films that are pg will not necessarily be suitable young children, even U, there's a Uc rating when it's for young children.

That said we liked watching family films where there was something for adults, chicken run is a great example, for small kids it's just funny chickens, for adults it's the great escape plus lots of other film references. Recently watched the next chicken run film and not a child in sight.

Parents need to make their own judgements though, as an adult I often watch films ranked pg which aren't kids films, they just don't happen to have adult content

@takemeawayagain

Loved box of delights and we read children of the dust too. Both were great. Favourite book though was Fireweed

Same! I thought of myself as pretty tough until that day 😅

We were shown the 1972 film 'The Pied Piper' at school at the age of 7. Highlights included a wedding cake that turned out to be full of rats, and as the film progressed, more and more characters developing buboes on their faces and succumbing to the plague. Lovely film for children 🙄

Last year I took the elder Gdcs (then 6 and 7) to see the new Railway Children film, at their request.
Totally unsuitable IMO for younger children - soon after the beginning there’s a scene with a black American soldier (troops during WW2 U.K.) being savagely beaten up by fellow American servicemen) - and it didn’t improve. They were used to watching all sorts but they found it very upsetting - I had to take them out when it was less than half over.

To be fair I hadn’t actually checked. It was a PG - from the title I’d assumed it’d be a U and fine for their ages.

I loved the neverending story as a kid but the horse sinking bit was so traumatic and drawn-out

My DCs cope ok with NES. They all get a bit 😳when the horse starts sinking but each and every time they turn and look at me and say ''but he's ok really and comes back at the end doesn't he mum?'' and i say ''yes'' and then it's all alright 😅 EVERY TIME

I want to second Ring of Bright Water. I was taken to see that at a cinema when very young and when the lovely otter got ... dispatched, suddenly and horribly and without warning, i wailed the place down ! I cried so hard and was still crying when we got home 😝

I came on to say Ring of Bright Water and Watership Down! Both shown in quick succession at my school to a group of 7 year olds. I’m still triggered. 😂

The biggest shock in our house in NES was when i explained that Atreyu is a boy 😂 For some reason all 4 were convinced he was a girl for quite a while !

Took year 5 and year 7 to see the BFG both girls devastated when the mean giants trashed his lovely cave. Seems that’s a trigger in our family for some reason they had watched far worse but both crying and wanted to leave at that scene!

DC1 now 24 was scarred for life by being 'forced' to watch ET during a wet lunchtime when she was in reception.

It was ghostbusters that scared me as a young child. Was scared to open my fridge, terrified of the "dogs" (zoul?) And thought a clawed hand was going to reach over any chair or bed and drag me to hell!

I saw Deep Impact by accident on TV when I was about 10 and it turned me from an already anxious child to being convinced I was about to die any moment. Nightmares about running from walls of water for years. Now i'm on all the good meds and I fear nothing through my chemically-induced haze ;)

We were always shown The Wizard of Oz back in the 70s, I was terrified of the wicked witch and always had to leave the room.

Watership down was horrific.

I liked the never ending story but I love dogs so wasn’t scared🤔🤣

Gremlins terrified me- aunt let me watch it and my parents went mad! Oops!